Francis Fitzherbert-Stafford, 12th Baron Stafford

Francis Edward Fitzherbert-Stafford, 12th Baron Stafford, DSO (28 August 1859 – 18 September 1932) was an English peer and British Army officer, holding the title Baron Stafford. His lifetime marked the point where the Stafford barony first came into contact with Fitzherbert as a surname.

Background

Francis Edward's father was Basil Thomas Fitzherbert and his mother was Emily Charlotte Stafford-Jerningham. It was through his mother's side of the family that he gained the Stafford barony; his uncle Fitzherbert Edward Stafford-Jerningham, 11th Baron Stafford had died without issue in 1913. Fitzherbert-Stafford also descended from Genoese nobility as his great grandfather was John Vincent Gandolfi, 12th Marquis Gandolfi. A Roman Catholic, he was educated at Beaumont College, Windsor.

Military Career and Public Offices

Fitzherbert was commissioned in 1877 into the Lancashire Militia, which from 1881 became the 3rd (Militia) Battalion of the Royal Lancaster Regiment. He was promoted to major in the regiment on 5 February 1900,^[1] became honorary lieutenant-colonel in 1901, and renounced his militia commission in 1903. He was also commissioned into his native county's Staffordshire Yeomanry in 1885, and promoted Major in that regiment in 1898. He fought in South Africa during the Second Boer War from 1900 to 1902, and was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) in 1900.^[2]

In the First World War he served purely on home defence duties, becoming Colonel commanding the Staffordshire Volunteer Regiment of the Volunteer Training Corps.^[2]

He was a DL and JP for Staffordshire and Lord High Steward of the Borough of Stafford.^[3]

Marriage and Later Life

On 20 April 1903 Fitzherbert-Stafford married Dorothy Hilda Worthington, the daughter of Albert Octavius Worthington. Together the two did not parent any children. He died at the family seat of Swynnerton Hall at age 73.

References

1. The London Gazette: no. 27164. p. 1003. 13 February 1900.
2. The Complete Peerage, Volume XII. St Catherine's Press. 1953. p. 198.
3. Kelly's Handbook of the Titled, Landed and Official Classes, 1931. Kelly's. p. 1595.

1. "Francis Edward Fitzherbert, 12th Baron Stafford". ThePeerage.com. Retrieved on 2008-03-21.
2. Marquis of Ruvigny and Raineval Staff (1994). The Plantagenet Roll of the Blood Royal, being a complete table of all the descendants now living of Edward III, King of England. Genealogical Publishing Company. ISBN 0-8063-1432-X.
3. "Francis Edward Fitzherbert-Stafford, 12th Baron Stafford". GeneAll.net. Retrieved on 2008-03-21.
4. "Fitzherbert Stafford-Jerningham, 11th Baron Stafford". GeneAll.net. Retrieved on 2008-03-21.